Buying and selling shares in Denmark is usually straightforward at the point of sale — your broker handles the transaction, the shares settle, and the money arrives in your account. The work that many investors overlook comes afterwards, in the reporting obligations you owe to SKAT, the Danish Tax Agency. Whether you hold a Danish custody account or invest through foreign brokers, understanding your obligations ensures compliance and avoids penalties, and the difference between the two arrangements is significant.
The other half of the picture is getting your cost basis right. How you calculate your acquisition price — what you effectively paid for the shares, including fees — determines your taxable gain or loss when you eventually sell. This guide walks through both the reporting side and the calculation side, with plenty of worked examples, so you can be confident your records match what SKAT expects.
Danish Custody Accounts
If you hold shares through a Danish bank or broker, your institution handles most of the reporting for you. Your bank automatically reports purchases and sales to SKAT, with data submitted by 20 January of the year following the transaction.
That automatic reporting is a genuine convenience, but it is not a reason to switch off. You should still verify your information in E-tax (TastSelv) under Share information, and check that reported transactions match your records before the tax assessment notice is issued in March/April. Mistakes can and do slip through, and it is far easier to correct an error early than to untangle it later.
Foreign Custody Accounts
When you hold shares through a foreign broker or bank, the burden of reporting falls on you. SKAT does not automatically receive the details of these transactions, so it is down to you to make sure they are recorded.
Reporting Deadline
You must report by 1 July of the year following the calendar year in which the transaction occurred. Missing this deadline can lead to interest and penalties, so it is worth putting a reminder in your calendar around the start of the year.
How to Report
Submit via E-tax:
- Log in to E-tax
- Go to Contact → Write to us
- Select Income and deductions → Tax assessment notice → Shares and securities
- Report each purchase and sale with the required details
It is a manual process, but once you have done it a couple of times it becomes routine. Keeping a running record of your transactions throughout the year makes the submission far less painful than trying to reconstruct everything in June.
Information to Report
For each transaction, you must provide:
- Share identity: name of the share, securities code (VP-nummer), and ISIN code
- Number of shares bought or sold
- Transaction date
- Purchase price including all costs (brokerage fees, currency conversion charges, etc.)
- Sale proceeds (for sales)
The inclusion of costs in the purchase price is worth emphasising, because it feeds directly into your acquisition price, which we come to shortly.
Corporate Events
Corporate actions can affect your share holdings and the information SKAT holds on them. When a company undergoes a structural change, the number of shares you hold, the securities code, or the acquisition price itself may change. You should check the Securities System for updated information after any corporate event.
Events that may require your attention:
- Mergers: one share may be exchanged for shares in another company at a specific ratio
- Share splits: your number of shares increases while the price per share decreases proportionally
- Name changes: the company changes its name but the securities code remains the same
- Share exchanges: one share is exchanged for another, often as part of a restructuring
If SKAT’s records do not reflect a corporate event, contact them with documentation to ensure your acquisition price and holdings are correctly adjusted. It is better to flag a discrepancy yourself than to have it surface later during an assessment.
Company Dissolution
If a company you hold shares in is dissolved or liquidated, you must declare any gain or loss rather than simply writing it off. The dissolution is treated as a disposal, so a taxable event occurs even though you never sold anything.
Reporting Gains and Losses
Declare gains or losses in box 67, field 312 of your tax return.
- Gain = disposal price (equity received in the dissolution) minus acquisition price
- Loss = acquisition price minus disposal price (equity received)
The disposal price in a dissolution is typically the equity value you receive after the company’s liabilities are settled. If the company has little left after paying debts, you may well end up with an allowable loss, which can offset other gains.
Acquisition Price Calculation
The acquisition price is the cost base used to calculate gains or losses when you eventually sell or dispose of your shares. It is the figure you compare against your sale proceeds to work out whether you have made a gain or a loss, so getting it right is fundamental. The good news is that in most cases it is a simple record-keeping exercise.
For Founded Companies (Cash Injection)
When you found a company and inject cash as share capital:
Acquisition price = Cash amount contributed
Example: You invest DKK 100,000 in cash to establish a company. Your acquisition price is DKK 100,000.
For Purchased Companies (Shareholder Agreement)
When you buy shares from another shareholder:
Acquisition price = Purchase price paid under the shareholder agreement
Example: You buy 500 shares for DKK 250,000. Your acquisition price is DKK 250,000.
Succession (Inherited Shares)
The rules change when shares come to you by inheritance. When you inherit shares, you inherit the previous owner’s acquisition price. The acquisition price does not reset to market value at the date of inheritance.
Example: Your parent bought shares for DKK 50,000. You inherit them when they are worth DKK 120,000. Your acquisition price remains DKK 50,000 — so if you sell at today’s higher value, you report a gain based on the original cost, not on the value when you inherited.
Capital Changes During Ownership
Certain events after you acquire shares adjust your acquisition price, and it is important to fold these into your records as they happen rather than trying to reconstruct them at sale time.
Cash Injection
If you make an additional cash injection into a company you already own shares in:
New acquisition price = Original acquisition price + Cash injection amount
Example: Original acquisition price DKK 100,000 + additional injection DKK 40,000 = DKK 140,000.
Debt Conversion
If a debt you are owed by the company is converted into shares:
Acquisition price = Market value of the receivable at the time of conversion
Example: You are owed DKK 80,000 by the company. The debt is converted into shares when the fair market value of the receivable is DKK 80,000. Your acquisition price is DKK 80,000.
Merger
When companies merge, your acquisition price in the new entity is adjusted based on the merger terms. Check the Securities System and any merger documentation for the correct acquisition price in the surviving company — the ratio at which your old shares exchange for new ones determines how the original cost is carried across.
Capital Reduction
A capital reduction (for example, a share buyback or reduction in nominal value) may reduce your number of shares or their nominal value. The effect on your acquisition price depends on the type of reduction:
- Nominal value reduction: acquisition price per share may be reduced proportionally
- Share buyback: if you sell shares back to the company, the gain or loss is calculated on those specific shares
Capital reductions are among the trickier events to account for, so it is sensible to consult SKAT or a tax adviser if you are unsure how a specific reduction affects your position.
Worked Examples
A few fully worked examples bring all of these rules together in a concrete way.
Example 1: Simple Purchase and Sale
- You buy 1,000 shares at DKK 150 each = DKK 150,000 (acquisition price)
- Brokerage fee paid: DKK 1,000
- Total acquisition price: DKK 151,000
- You later sell all 1,000 shares at DKK 200 each = DKK 200,000
- Brokerage fee paid: DKK 1,200
- Net sale proceeds: DKK 198,800
- Gain: DKK 198,800 − DKK 151,000 = DKK 47,800
Note how the brokerage fees are folded into both the acquisition price and the sale proceeds, which is why including all costs matters.
Example 2: Succession and Sale
- You inherit shares with your parent’s acquisition price of DKK 75,000
- You sell the shares for DKK 120,000
- Gain: DKK 120,000 − DKK 75,000 = DKK 45,000
Even though you came into the shares at a current value of DKK 120,000, the gain is measured from the inherited acquisition price of DKK 75,000.
Example 3: Cash Injection and Sale
- Original acquisition price: DKK 200,000
- You inject an additional DKK 50,000
- Adjusted acquisition price: DKK 250,000
- You sell your shares for DKK 320,000
- Gain: DKK 320,000 − DKK 250,000 = DKK 70,000
Example 4: Company Dissolution
- Your acquisition price for 500 shares: DKK 100,000
- The company is dissolved and you receive DKK 35,000 in equity
- Loss: DKK 100,000 − DKK 35,000 = DKK 65,000
Here the dissolution produces an allowable loss of DKK 65,000, which is declared in box 67, field 312.
Closing Thoughts
Buying and selling shares in Denmark is not difficult, but it does reward organisation. The two fundamentals are knowing who is responsible for reporting (your Danish bank, or you, for foreign holdings — and by which deadline) and keeping an accurate, running record of your acquisition price with all costs included. If you stay on top of corporate events, inheritances and the occasional capital change, the calculation of gains and losses becomes a simple matter of subtraction. For the official guidance from SKAT, visit: Buying and Selling Shares and Securities. This guide is for general information and should not be treated as personal tax advice — for anything unusual, a Danish tax adviser is the right person to ask.